Shoreham tree facing the chop is occupied by campaigners

The 30-year-old Poplar sits between the Duke of Wellington pub and the former Civic Centre site on Brighton Road.

Developer Hyde gained permission to fell the poplar tree in March this year to make way for a 159 home development.

But campaigners from the Shoreham Poplar Front have occupied the branches and say they won’t move until the tree is saved.

They built a treehouse at the end of August and lead campaigner Darcy Harrison, 51, said the group would stay with the tree night and day.

There is a rota for the next three weeks and one volunteer spent the night in the tree.

Mr Harrison said: “We’re not extinction rebellion, we’re not seasoned tree occupiers – we’re local people who are fed up.

“We completely support the building of new homes but we think the tree should continue to benefit everybody by absorbing carbon and offering flood protection.

“We’ve got lots of people who are willing to chain themselves to that tree when the time comes.”

The developer has promised to plant at least 20 replacement trees once the poplar is felled and says it has worked with Adur District Council to ensure adequate tree planting throughout the site.

But Mr Harrison does not trust that the tree planting will go ahead in full and says that ‘no amount of new trees’ will make up for the loss of the poplar.

Hyde claims that keeping the tree would mean sacrificing several affordable homes within the scheme.

The majority of properties will be shared ownership and the remaining 60 will be for social rent by Adur residents.

But the SPF is calling on the developer to ‘reconfigure the design’ so the tree can be saved.

“[Hyde] claim that five dwellings will be lost if they alter the design- we refute that,” said Mr Harrison.

Andy Hunt, lead development manager at the Hyde Group said they understand the depth of feeling, but the scheme would ‘allow for a substantial tree planting programme’ along the site’s boundaries, with Poplar trees having a typical lifespan of 30/50 years and ‘eventually have to be felled to protect local buildings’.